Laugh your heart out

Known for movies that focus on social issues, be it Paheli, Dhusar, Dhyasaparva or Aanahat, veteran actor-director Amol Palekar is now making a light-hearted comedy Marathi film We Are On — Houn Jau Dya. The movie will hit theatres by Diwali. Produced by Palekar’s wife Sandhya Gokhale, who also wrote the script, the cinematography is by Amol Gole. The cast includes renowned actors such as Ashok Saraf, Dilip Prabhavalkar, Makarand Anaspure and Vandana Gupte as well as newcomer Ranjeet Pande.

Amol Palekar along with the cast of We Are On — Houn Jau Dya

“Acting and direction are different things. I enjoyed both but making a comedy film is a difficult task. The problem starts right from finding a good script which should touch everybody’s heart,” said Palekar. He admits that he wanted to make a humorous movie where the humour would be similar to actor-director Raja Paranjpe’s movies and comic writer PL Deshpande’s plays and books. “Good humour was missing since the last few years in Marathi films. I wanted to re-establish it by adding my own personal touch,” he said.

Sandhya Gokhale, who had earlier worked on the scripts of Palekar’s films, said, “Working on this movie was a real challenge as I am known for not having a sense of humour. I was apprehensive whether people will like the kind of contemporary, crisp comedy written by me but now as the movie is awaiting release I believe that the audience will enjoy the film very much.” Actor Ashok Saraf, who is part of the movie, said, “Working on Amol’s humorous film is a good lesson for me and I am enjoying my role as it is different.”